June 7, 2012 AT 11:15 am

Art for the Maker Movement

This is an idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile — I’ve wanted to do a photograph which captured what I think of when I think of makers, and which makers themselves would enjoy as a work.

All of us started the same way — as curious kids (maybe big kids). At first, most of us were following in the path of someone else — along what feels like a straight, well-defined line. But there’s a point where things start to diverge, and we go off and do our own thing. That’s what making is all about, and that’s what I tried to capture here.

Symbolism aside, I just dig this image. I’d like to sell it as a print, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. What I’d like to know from you is if you’d be interested in buying such a thing. It’s always hard to judge whether or not a print will sell, especially for the artist, who is often too close to the work to be objective — that’s what galleries and curators are for. But I don’t want this to be a gallery piece. I’d like it to be an affordable work that people can hang in their homes, hackerspaces, shops, or offices and enjoy, so I’m asking you directly.

This would be an 8×12 digital c-print, matted to 6×10, without a frame. The image above is a mockup of the final print in a frame. You can see a larger version of the image here. The price would be no more than $30/print and would include a custom matte.

Please respond in the comments if you’re interested.

UPDATE: Wow! Thank you all so much for your enthusiastic response! I’m currently working out distribution (shipping cost, setting up a shop, etc.) but it looks like this could really happen. Prepping the image for print takes some time too, because I set very high standards for myself when it comes to prints. Thanks again for your amazing comments and encouragement — they mean a lot to me!

26 Comments

Ooooooh! Sounds really cool! I would only buy prints of really interesting electronics … like Heathkits, close ups of LEDs, vintage robots. If it is just something we have on our desk every day, it doesn’t make sense to me :s Though, I would definitely buy one of an Arduino in ice cream. ^_^

"Heathkits, close ups of LEDs, vintage robots. If it is just something we have on our desk every day, it doesn’t make sense to me"

Aren’t all of those thing on your desk everyday, though? 🙂

@Sean: thanks! Yes, they would be signed (and numbered, if I decide to do a limited edition thing). Mattes are typically signed in the lower-right as you say, along with the print number, about 1/4" in from the edge.

@Rick: the image on Flickr was just to give people an idea of what it would look like. I’m still in the process of prepping the work for printing, which might take awhile. I want to make sure the image looks good on paper before I make it available. It will definitely be released CC-NC-BY-SA eventually, though.

I would much rather pay for a subscription to high-resolution backgrounds on Maker theme. You have to decide for yourself whether the old shoot-and-sell-dead-tree-edition of photography is working for you.

Along these lines, an old engineer once gave me some old hand-drawn schematics on large rolls of paper he’d made long ago. I carefully cut and framed some of these, and they’re on the wall in my lab, serving as a reminder of how awesome those who came before us are.

Having beautiful electronics-related art on the walls is always a good idea.